Playwriting

The Royal Court has an unwavering commitment to writers.

For over 60 years, we have premiered groundbreaking new plays and helped to launch the careers of our foremost playwrights.

We actively seek out and nurture new and emerging voices. Our Literary Office reads and considers over 2,000 unsolicited scripts each year, we work with hundreds of writers through our writers groups, and our International Department travels across the world, developing exchanges between British and international artists.

To the writers:

The Royal Court exists as a place that must hold a plurality of voices and opinions.

It supports freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and freedom of association for writers, supporting them to write without censorship, regardless of external politics, changes in leadership and any responsibility to past work at the theatre.

We strive to create an environment in which differing voices and opinions can co-exist.

In current times it is becoming increasingly difficult for writers to write what they want or need to write without fear, and we will do everything we can to rise above a narrowing of viewpoints.

Art and writing at its best, is nuanced and complex and we encourage that, while acknowledging that the very thing we strive for, can also bring discomfort and be provocative. We enable all these voices and opinions in good faith, in the spirit that all writers we engage with are searching for peace, equity and anti-oppression.

We acknowledge that this right means very different things in different parts of the world; we oppose any attempt to control or stifle a writer’s voice and acknowledge freedom of expression as a fundamental human right must sit at the heart of how writers can work with us.

November 2022